November Scenario: A Gift from Shamash

[lawrence.whitaker]

Over the next few months, we're going to be releasing one scenario a month for the Mythras roleplaying game. Each scenario is self contained, and suitable for at least two 3-hour sessions of play.

For November, we bring you a Science Fiction scenario...

A Gift From Shamash

By Pete Nash

On the edge of the solar system, among the far-flung debris of the Kuiper Belt, the UNCC Nergal is sent to intercept the DVC Fukunusubi, a reclamation vessel that has stopped responding to communications and is on a collision trajectory with Earth. The crew of the Nergal have less than 90 hours to change the Fukunusubi’s course while, at the same time, discovering the nature of the catastrophe the ship has suffered.

No one prepared them for this. No one prepared them for a gift from Shamash. And no one can save them.

A Gift From Shamash is a complete scenario for Mythras Imperative and Mythras. Compatible with supplements such as Luther Arkwright and M-Space, the adventure includes background history, deckplans, campaign expansion guidance and marine creation notes for the United Nations Solar Navy marine characters. The scenario also includes 15 pregenerated marines and navy personnel for immediate play.

42 pages
PDF & POD (Lulu)
Prices:
$3.99 - PDF (www.thedesignmechanism.com/products - and choose the Supplements catalogue)
$8.99 - POD (http://www.lulu.com/shop/pete-nash/a-gift-from-shamash/paperback/product-22941699.html)

[Guest Vile Traveller]

15MAILNOV gets you 15% off and free shipping from Lulu. Just sayin'.

Edited November 12, 2016 by Vile

[lawrence.whitaker]

And the one below gets you 20% off...

 BOOKCALSAVE 

[clarence]

Having read an early version of this I can warmly recommend it. It's creepy, takes a good deal of thinking, and brings some hard sci-fi goodness to Mythras.

[smiorgan]

Impluse buy! :-O

 

[threedeesix]

Grabbed both this and M-Space. Now the waiting begins.

Rod

[Jakob]

Nice! Just ordered it through lulu - to be honest, the very evocative cover illustration played a big role in that decision ...

Looking forward to more adventure material for RQ. I especially like that it looks like you're going to expand on the Meeros setting without publishing a Meeros sourcebook - it kind of reminds me of the good old days when an overall setting for rpg material was more or less implied, but there was no overarching publication to put all the pieces together in one picture, so it was left to each group to decide how to form a bigger picture from them.

Edited November 14, 2016 by Jakob
typos

[Trifletraxor]

Tempted, very tempted! Reviews anyone?

[Belgath]

 

11 minutes ago, Trifletraxor said:

Tempted, very tempted! Reviews anyone?

It is a good adventure and scary. The players will haft to play vary smart to succeed. For me the scenario invoked the same feelings I had watching the first alien movie as a kid.

[heathd666]

i asked this on the brp runequest google page figured i would ask it here as well. so who all has ran this and how long did it take and for how many players. i went ahead and bought this in the hopes of running it for several local cons here and since most of the cons come in 4 hr slots and the blurp for this adventure says for 2 - 3 hour sessions i wanted to see how long it actually took gms.

 

[g33k]

18 hours ago, heathd666 said:

i asked this on the brp runequest google page figured i would ask it here as well. so who all has ran this and how long did it take and for how many players. i went ahead and bought this in the hopes of running it for several local cons here and since most of the cons come in 4 hr slots and the blurp for this adventure says for 2 - 3 hour sessions i wanted to see how long it actually took gms.

 

IMHO / IME the exact times are REALLY hard to pin down; the group you get at any given session / table can vary wildly,  IMHO the best you can do is:

• note some timepoints/milestones (so you've got a way to tell if you're "on track" for a timely finish, or not).
• identify elements you can simplify / eliminate if the party is bogging down, stumped, overmatched, got bad dice, etc.
• identify elements you can make tougher, & prep a few extra encounters / puzzles / etc to add -- if the party is ripping through it too fast.

Then change your pacing on the fly, as-needed ...   Also, if you've got a RL group, use 'em as guinea-pigs!  Or a FLGS that has "open game nights" where you can get an impromptu group together...

 

[lawrence.whitaker]

Yes, it's always tough to say for certain how long a scenario takes to complete. It depends on the GM's style and the players' approach. For example, play testing Mythic Britain, we spent at least 3 sessions of about 3-4 hours on one of the scenarios, with a great deal of discussion, planning, and so on. Another group I heard from completed the same scenario in one 3 hour session. G33k's advice is good. Always read the scenario, plan it according to how you know the players will approach things, and if you want to complete it in one or two sessions, make sure your GMing style is paced accordingly. Do this by limiting how much out of character talking the players do; use a stopwatch or countdown to force them to make decisions quickly; impose lots of limits, make rolls quickly and push the momentum. If you want a slow-burn, you can drag things out. Consider yourself the game's metronome - you dictate the pace; it's all a question of how you do it.

Edited November 18, 2016 by lawrence.whitaker

[heathd666]

quick question, i am preparing to run this for my group than for a local con and was wondering. does it matter what characters the players pick? I thought i had read somewhere, but cant find it now, that the players should pick a crew member of the ship and than also pick a marine. also is there any advice anyone wants to share that has run the scenario. thanks in advance

 

[lawrence.whitaker]

We offered that advice in the scenario - that way, players got the best of both worlds; crew and marines, but you don't have to do it that way at all. If you wanted, you could easily just use a civilian crew, 'Alien' style, that has to investigate the derelict.

[heathd666]

so anyone run this care to share their thoughts or suggestions? mayby a briefing about how it went? i know someone out there ran it. yes that right i am talking to you (/em points out the screen to you)

[heathd666]

so i am prepping to run this for gen con and i had a thought. there are spoliers here so if you dont want to know them perphaps dont read

 

 

 

 

 

 

so i had some thought on running this and keeping it suspenseful. i thought about implementing that once they get on the Fukunusubi communications are down probably due to a problem with the reactor thus limiting communications while wearing a suit to the characters have to go faceplate to faceplate to talk to each other. any nthoughts?

[...]

16 minutes ago, heathd666 said:

 any thoughts?

Wouldn't the suits have their own radios? Plus, there is that other thing ...

[heathd666]

i was thinking of adding suspense by their suit radios and communications with their ship being out

[...]

It would add suspense, though players might question why the suit radios aren't working.

[heathd666]

i actually was thinking , without giving to much away, possibly a radioactive leak from something causing havoc on their communications gear

[...]

Maybe the ship's comm is broadcasting very loudly on all channels, that would could block the suit comms. That, or there could be a jammer that they could trip getting in, something to do with the ship's automated defenses maybe.

[Matt_E]

How about this?  The ship's reactor goes down and creates an EMP that wipes out those electronics.  It could wipe out anything you like... ;-)

[g33k]

3 hours ago, Matt_E said:

How about this?  The ship's reactor goes down and creates an EMP that wipes out those electronics.  It could wipe out anything you like... ;-)

Or the reactor goes critical and creates a surge, burning out circuits...

 

[Matt_E]

1 hour ago, g33k said:

Or the reactor goes critical and creates a surge, burning out circuits...

 

Yes, that's what I had in mind.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_electromagnetic_pulse

Of course, it would have to be more manageable than an actual explosion or prompt-critical excursion, to avoid having everyone in the vicinity be disintegrated, or take a lethal dose.  Maybe a small event, in a small reactor...  Anyway, I don't think we have to do the forensics.  Game on. :-D

Edited July 4, 2017 by Matt_E

[g33k]

2 hours ago, Matt_E said:

Yes, that's what I had in mind.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_electromagnetic_pulse

Of course, it would have to be more manageable than an actual explosion or prompt-critical excursion, to avoid having everyone in the vicinity be disintegrated, or take a lethal dose.  Maybe a small event, in a small reactor...  Anyway, I don't think we have to do the forensics.  Game on. :-D

No, I just mean a simple electrical surge.  Same as a lightning-strike causes.

EMP is more "sci-fi-ish" but I believe that requires an actual explosion.  As in, an A-bomb just detonated *INSIDE* the hull.  Not just everybody "in the vicinity" would be disintegrated, the whole ship likely will be...

But I suppose a small amount of handwavium in the reactor core might generate an EMP without an A-Bomb...